Marlins2003

Bobby V just said on BBTN that with Inge oiut 4-6 weeks with a broken hand (paraphrasing) "Dave Dombrowski must must must must must call the Marlins and get Cantu in a Tigers uniform."

Re: Bonifacio. Folks forget Rodriguez had him playing everyday in NOLA for a good part of the season. And I don't know if it's been mentioned but I think the Marlins are now 11-11 since E-Rod replaced Fredi and are in fact playing winning baseball (I think it's 10-7 or something like that but I'd have to go back and count) since he was named "Manager" in PR.

OVER/UNDER Mitch Williams just made a bet that Stanton will hit OVER 20 HRs this season. What do you think???? I'm going with under. It depends if the post season counts in the total.

Edwin Rodriguez believes Marlins are trying too hard to get back into the race July 19th, 2010 by Tom D'Angelo Manager Edwin Rodriguez has a theory on why the Marlins are the worst hitting team in the majors in July. They want to win. “They want to get back in the race,� Rodriguez said of his team that is 9.5 games out. “I think they are putting way too much pressure on themselves.� In three games since the All-Star break the Marlins have scored three runs and are hitting .159 with just four extra base hits (all doubles). They are 2-1 thanks to some stellar pitching. Going back to the start of the month, the Marlins are hitting .220 with seven home runs. In the last 11 games, Mike Stanton is the only regular with a home run. Hitting coach John Mallee, though, is encouraged by their at bats and believes it won’t take much to snap out of the slump. “We’ve had some really good at bats,� Mallee said. “If we weren’t having good at bats that would be one thing. If we keep having a good approach, the balls will fall.� http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/marlins/

Speaking of Baker, I read somewhere this morning (and I don't remember the source or how credible it was, sorry) that Baker is now expected to miss all of August and not be back until sometime in September. To me that says it's time to go find another catcher (and I don't mean Max Ramirez from Texas, rather someone who can actually play the position). It's been nice having BH around covering for Bake but enough already, I'd bet dollars to donuts that if we start trading, somewhere in the players coming back will be a major league experienced catcher.

I think you missed the point almost completely Erick. It isn't about how great or small an individual player's skillset is, it's how sound their fundamentals are and knowing what the right thing to do in game situations is. Uggla could be the best or worse 2nd baseman but if he doesn't (for example, and that includes using Uggla as well) position himself correctly when a throw is coming from the outfield and ball winds up rolling across the infield and a runner who should of been held at 2nd winds up at third, that's just bad baseball and if he can fix that kind of stuff I'll give him a standing O at the end of his time as manager.

What I'd like to see out of E-Rod's tenure besides of course stabilizing the BP is getting this team to stop giving opponents four or five outs an inning. Do that and he will have made a major contribution to the organization.

Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports that the asking price for Marlins outfielder Cody Ross is "very, very high." As it should be July 19th. July 29th is a different world. :thumbup Trading Nunez, whether because we're selling or because we are reformulating the team because we feel we can compete "might" be an interesting subject for consideration. He's pitching crazy well, he has a nothing contract by most team's terms, he's under team control for another *two seasons* (*2012*), those are all components to setting - and getting - a sky high price back for the guy. If you felt Veras or Hensley or one of (even one of the starters) NOLA guys could contribute and keep the team competitive, if the right deal came our way, I sure would consider it. At this date I'm not advocating it, just thinking if we come out of the next two series (Col and Bravos) +1 or better he might be an extremely valuable trade chip. (You don't get to +1 or better in the next 7 games without Nunez being part of the winning equation which only makes him worth more)

Scott Mitchell in NOLA seems to get these guys tuned up like I haven't seen in a long time. Clearly the talent has to be there but does seem to be able to take guys like Badenhop and even Veras, guys who have the experience but have lost their way, or the confidence, or their curveball - and get them focused and ready to pitch at this level. He did it with Nolasco, hopefully he'll do it with Volstad. he has Hensley last season. On one hand you want to say "well make him the MLB pitching coach", but he's so valuable doing what he's doing, he's sort of the Perry Hill of pitching coaches.

We can afford a split against the Rockies but we need a sweep against the Braves. You just have to keep throwing fresh arms out there for an inning at a time for the next couple of weeks regardless of what it cost you, if you want to try to be in a competitive spot come August 1.

You make me want to choke a young Miguel Cabrera. Most people just call it the "chicken" lolololololololololololololololololololololol

Luna went yard tonight (15) in NOLA against Memphis. Meyer threw 1.2 scoreless, hitless, two strikeouts. RVH six innings, 1 R, 5 H, 5 SO.

Pinto actually threw a scoreless inning tonight. And not even a single inherited runner scored. There's a first time for everything :brigginbounce No lie.

I'm willing to buy the entire team a set of alarm clocks so the bats are ensured of waking up. Just set them to go off 5 minutes before every game. At least we won though... This is such a fascinating way to visualize a problem and come up with a solution. :thumbup

The pen is biggest problem. I wouldn't be surprised if they send Sanabia down tonight to bring up an arm even if it means him missing a turn because all that's left for tomorrow is Tankersley Badenhop and Marinez and the former is good maybe for an inning but more realistically one or two guys.You could send Peterson back down and play defense a man short for a night and bring up a second arm or a starter to replace say hypothetically Robertson who you'd try to stretch out for a couple of turns in the pen, and then Tuesday bring up LoMo if he's healthy to be your left hand bat off the bench and spare outfielder but all these moves are stretching things really thin. The good news is no one knows the arms in NOLA better than E-Rod. I suppose you could also trade Ross for a pitcher now (like right now although he couldn't be more outspoken about wanting to stay on SoFLA and he's Uggla #1 guy on the team) or Robertson or even Cantu but all these moves require a number of pieces falling into place, or strategically you throw tomorrow's game to the wind and hope Sanchez pitches the (second or third best) game of his life and is prepared to do what it takes and you pair him up with two of the guys who are left and they understand they are taking one for the team. Or I suppose you can just pray like h*ll that it rains tomorrow night (there's a 50% chance) or the entire Rockies team comes down with an intestinal virus. If none of the above makes sense to you, you aren't alone but the point is especially Monday we are facing some very limited options, a number of which are unappealing and perhaps even far-fetched. EDIT: BTW, the comment at the top about the pen being the "biggest problem" does not refer to quality of their recent work but rather their "workload" and that to sustain their success each of the guys we've depending on this weekend need some amount of rest (I won't pretend I know each one's needs, just saying you can't go out there every night and not have your arm fall off).

Imagine what a great experience that must be for Little leaguers to have Conine as your coach. If I were a kid I'd kill for the chance. Wow. Just wow!

Tell me why we traded Willingham for Bonifacio ? :thumbdown Because both Olsen and Willingham were going to make something like $3 million each (I forget the #) and one was coming out of drug rehab and the other refused to consider back surgery after missing a third of the season or something like that. In other words, both were too great a financial risk at the time (pre-stadium deal).

I love Jeff Conine and everything, but I can't wait to have Tommy back. Jeff always sounds confused He does? I don't know. He's like... mumbling up there on the booth. Being laid back is not the same as being confused. :banghead

E-Rod's job is to do what he's told to and he's doing a very good job at that. You've seen exactly how far his nine new lineups got before the FO told him who to play where and where to bat them in the lineup. I give the guy credit for doing a respectable job and making it to the bigs and I have no complaints with the guy's credentials or desire to win. All in all they picked a good guy to fill the role they wanted.

The Dominican winter league is actually played in three stages, unfortunately the way MLB archives records can be misleading. It's sort of like AA ball here. Mid-October, a couple of weeks after the regular MLB season is over, they start playing and they play about 50 - 70 games give or take games including exhibitions until Christmas time or so. Then there are the round robin playoffs that for all intents start a "second season" with their own all new stats and record keeping. Then after that there are the championships. All together I think a winning team and Licey has always been a very competitive teams which means they usually go deep can play about 110 games.This year year of course because of Offerman was an aberration. Then of course there are the Caribbean championship series which ads more games against Venz, PR, Panama, Mex etc. It's never ending for some of these guys. So you figure three or four years somewhere between 350 and 450 games (110-115-120 game at the max) so I don't think my number is that far off as Bonifacio has probably played 80-90% of his games in the outfield L-C-R. But its not worth another debate over.

Like I said on the other page, Hanley called for it, the ball carried father back then it initially looked but he still followed it, eventually it got far enough that it was Boni's ball, Boni called him off, Hanley backed off, Boni didn't catch it. I can't see how ANY of that is Hanley's fault. "Greedy shortstop". Come on. What is it you don't understand that Hanley had no right to "call it" in the first place. It's like you're at a four way intersection and stopped at a red light and the guy with the green light stops, rolls down his window and waves you through the intersection. The red and green lights are there for a purpose. Bad things happen when you don't follow the rules of the road. There are reasons why there are rules about playing defense meant to minimize problems on plays just like this. problems arise when people don't follow rules. If this was Dan Uggla and Cody Ross or Mike Stanton and Gaby Sanchez you wouldn't be blaming the outfielder for doing his job, it's only because of this misguided hatred you all show towards Bonifacio who has probably played 400 games as an outfielder in winter leagues over the last three or four years, and quite well.

wow this front office is a f***ing joke....they want to lose. petersen has been terrible in AAA but i guess luna doesnt deserve the call. nope ive only been praying for that call up for like a month and a half. petersen was really impressive with his 1-16 last time he was up. I'd like to see Luna up as well but face it, he's not an outfielder and one way or the other they need a spare outfielder for tomorrow.

LoMo's ailing.

If it's anything like the way he's playing ball this year they will be on the clearance racks at Big Lots within weeks. God that was such an irresponsible play in the ninth, I sometimes think there must be something going on with him away from the game to affect him like this, but then I realize it's just every couple of weeks he needs a bigger hat size. That was all on Boni. Hanley called for it but Boni called him off. At least that was my take. You're so wrong but everyone like to blame Bonifacio for everything, I get that. The rain this afternoon was probably his fault too. You don't call for a ball in a crowded stadium that isn't yours to call for in the first place and then back away at the last minute because it finally dawned on you there are other guys wearing the same uniforms as you who are supposed to be making the play. I don't see how. I saw Hanley call for it, I saw Boni call him off, I saw Boni not catch the ball. I don't see what makes me "so wrong". Hanley's only role on that play was in a support role. The oiutfielder coming in is looking UP, he's following the path of the ball. He not surveying the landscape, he shouldn't be paying attention to anything other than positioning himself to make the play. It's his to make. The third baseman if he's near the play and or the shortstop clear the way for the left fielder to make the play. It's just like the same miscommunication that happened down the third base line with Cantu and Paulino. Just do YOUR job and let the other guy do HIS instead of overthinking the situation. I mean really this is basic baseball 101. EDIT: By the way, "wrong" was meant in the figurative sense.

If it's anything like the way he's playing ball this year they will be on the clearance racks at Big Lots within weeks. God that was such an irresponsible play in the ninth, I sometimes think there must be something going on with him away from the game to affect him like this, but then I realize it's just every couple of weeks he needs a bigger hat size. That was all on Boni. Hanley called for it but Boni called him off. At least that was my take. You're so wrong but everyone like to blame Bonifacio for everything, I get that. The rain this afternoon was probably his fault too. You don't call for a ball in a crowded stadium that isn't yours to call for in the first place and then back away at the last minute because it finally dawned on you there are other guys wearing the same uniforms as you who are supposed to be making the play.